Well everyone, I expect Mike and Tom to write their views about the ride, but I'll leave my short story here for everyone to ponder over.
I guess there's no easy way to say this, but Saturday's ride was like a scene right out of DELIVERANCE. After riding through 211 and barely being able to see 15 feet in front of us, we slipped and slid our way down the mountain. We then headed out to Fort Valley Rd to try and catch Route 11. Little did we know, the road turned to gravel. Here's where Deliverance began. I could just hear the banjo playing in the background. I was praying no one would fall or get a flat. After what seemed an eternity on the gravel road, we finally hit Route 11 then skipped over to 81. I made it home about 1830 that night. Oh, and Ralph, it WAS an Adventure to say the least.
Serves you right! You could have endured the trip to and from Lynchburg. The roads were all paved--under the layer of water--both Saturday and Sunday. Ralph's advice for dealing with water inside and out on the visors: "Just look between the drops." :-)
Topic
Re: Review of Third Saturday Ride
Author
Ed "Deerslayer" Naidamast
Date Created
5/19/2003 2:03:45 PM
Message
Hmm, me things I was the smart one--I stayed home from both rides, dry and warm!! Glad to hear there were no incidents and everyone remained safe in spite of some pretty lousy weather. Let's all hope this horrible weather we're experiencing will soon depart and give way to some great riding weather!!
Topic
Re: Review of Third Saturday Ride
Author
mary ann
Date Created
5/19/2003 4:27:32 PM
Message
Wandee: sorry to hear it didn't go too well. Fort Valley should not turn to gravel. It's a little tricky navigating around there (i've ridden it many times between 211 and 55; and there's a cool road off of it that goes west toward edinburgh, rt. 11). There are a few really great paved roads in the GW Forest, and some really fun gravel/dirt roads when you're in the mood for them. I have a forest map that designates which roads are which. If you're up for trying it again on a good day, let me know. I should be healthy again by then. I"ll try to remember to announce it if I'm heading out that way.
Topic
Re: Review of Third Saturday Ride
Author
Tom Caldwell
Date Created
5/20/2003 7:10:34 AM
Message
With the caveat "any ride is a good ride," this ride was as much of an "adventure" as it was a ride. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, although I wouldn't want all my rides to be adventures.
The ride route was good-- I think it would be awesome on a good weather day. In fact, I'd like to do it again (except for the gravel road part). Route 211 was very nice, and whatever road Wandee lead us to after that was also awesome.
The dirt road excursion was interesting in the Chinese sense of the word. I agree with Wandee-- I kept expecting someone to step out in front of us with a banjo and demand a duel.
The rain just wouldn't go away. There was a couple times when it looked like it might, but then it would start in again.
All told, though, I'd go again knowing it would be the same. Mike and Wandee were fun riding partners, and it was good to be out exploring on the bike.
Thanks, Wandee and Mike.
-Tom
Topic
Re: Review of Third Saturday Ride
Author
Mike Mrozek
Date Created
5/20/2003 6:39:09 PM
Message
Ok, Wandee I'll bite....
The trip was GREAT! Lets see the weather forcast was some rain and clouds. Looks like I can't get any painting done outside, so this is good excuse to ride.
I'll also needed to test my ability to correctly reassemble my front tire speedometer hub....it didn't work the week before and tada...it works works now. Don't tell anyone but my odometer is 200 miles shy of actual.
Yep, I heard the banjo music playing also albeit the sight of satellite dishes in the outback surprised me.
I really wanted to change my BMW R1100RT bike for a 1150GS model once we hit the gravel roads.
I learned my new AVON sport-touring tires work great in the rain and at speed, lets just say we were moving along on I-81 and I-66 !
Major problem was my glasses and helmet visor fogging up. I just installed a Fog City ProShield insert onto my visor to hopefully solve that problem.
Would I do it again.....in a heart beat! aleit lets avoid the gravel but that was part of the adventure.
Would I like to ride with you and Tom again......FOR SURE !
